The Longest Ride

Synopsis

Based on the bestselling novel by master storyteller Nicholas Sparks, THE LONGEST RIDE centers on the star-crossed love affair between Luke, a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia, a college student who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City's art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira, whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife deeply inspire the young couple. Spanning generations and two intertwining love stories, THE LONGEST RIDE explores the challenges and infinite rewards of enduring love.

Based on the bestselling novel by master storyteller Nicholas Sparks, THE LONGEST RIDE centers on the star-crossed love affair between Luke, a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia, a college student who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City's art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira, whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife deeply inspire the young couple. Spanning generations and two intertwining love stories, THE LONGEST RIDE explores the challenges and infinite rewards of enduring love.

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ouskullz 7 / 10

'The Notebook' meets '8 Seconds'

Enjoyable tearjerker flick paralleling modern love story between bull
rider and college student with that of an older gentleman who is on his
deathbed. I personally thought that the story of the older couple was
more developed and less cliché. The plot is overall enjoyable. The
cinematography of North Carolina mountains is beautiful. My favorite
scene was the last bull riding scene which is in slow motion and uses
punchy bass (only real use of LFE effects in the movie).

On a personal note, I was saddened to read that Rango the Bull passed
away after shooting the movie but before the film was released.
Apparently he was a real life superstar in the rodeo circuit.

Reviewed by prospectus_capricornium 6 / 10

Would Have Been More Satisfying Had Both Stories Received Equal Attention

Nicholas Sparks' movies are almost always seemingly made to please the
hopeless romantics and the fairytale romance-loving audience, they're
expected to manipulate emotions, no matter how extremely recognizable
their set ups may be, and they often triumph. But in THE LONGEST RIDE,
the attempt barely mimics such success, primarily because of its
confusing and ever shifting narrative, whose backbone runs on two
romantic sagas spanning across different generations.

THE LONGEST RIDE sprawls across two love stories set in the modern day
and seventy years ago. In modern day, it has Luke and Sophia, two
utterly good-looking people, who at first sight falls in love with each
other, they stumbles upon Ira, a World War II veteran, who himself, has
his own epic love story to tell—that one he shared with his wife, Ruth,
seventy years ago. More often, these two love stories bear no
difference from each other, as both couples go through similar
hardships to carry their relationships.

The idea of crisscrossing time to present two supposedly compelling
love stories, perhaps, is to double the magnitude of emotions and
deliver a more poignant result, yet such very confusing structure is
what actually makes giving both the stories with equal level of
sentiment, difficult. Still, no matter how one appears to hold more
promise of an engaging love story than the other, the tedious and
confusing process of going back and forth across two different time
frames, and the fact that the narrative failed to establish concrete
connection between the two stories, renders less than satisfying
result. There's also this chemistry that Luke and Sophia seem to be
lacking, regardless of how incredibly beautiful they are as persons,
and that, may also be the reason why the other story, strikes as more
riveting than theirs. This makes the entirety of the movie—its
interesting premise and structure yet often convoluted, and its thinly
drawn characters—hard to appreciate and care about. Nevertheless, in
the eyes of a true Sparks' fan, and of anyone easily drawn to such
anthems, THE LONGEST RIDE easily serves its purpose.

Spanning through generations and intertwining love affairs, THE
LONGESTh RIDE would have been more satisfying had it treated both the
stories with equal attention. That's not to say it has no small moments
of perfection, because it does, but as a whole, the movie just falls
below average.

Reviewed by Open-mindedMuslimWoman 10 / 10

A Very Great Romantic Drama Movie.

The Longest Ride is a 2015 American romantic drama film directed by
George Tillman, Jr. and written by Craig Bolotin. Based on Nicholas
Sparks' novel of the same name, the film stars Scott Eastwood, Britt
Robertson, Jack Huston, Oona Chaplin, Alan Alda, Melissa Benoist, and
Lolita Davidovich.

Luke Collins is a bull rider who is seriously injured one night while
riding. One year later he gets back on and meets Sophia Danko by
chance. On their first date they encounter an older gentleman who has
crashed his car and help rescue him. Luke continues riding bulls, no
matter the risk of being hurt again. He and Sophia fall in love.
Meanwhile, Sophia continuously visits the man she and Luke rescued, Ira
Levinson. He tells her the story of how he met his late wife, Ruth;
their stories interweave.